Wnt addiction of genetically defined cancers reversed by PORCN inhibition. Homo sapiens

Enhanced sensitivity to Wnts is an emerging hallmark of a subset of cancers, defined in part by mutations regulating the abundance of their receptors. Inhibition of Wnt secretion by blocking an essential post-translational modification, palmitoleation, provides a useful therapeutic intervention. Inhibition of PORCN in RSPO3-translocated cancers via treatment with ETC-159 causes a marked remodeling of the transcriptome, with loss of cell cycle, stem cell, and proliferation genes and an increase in differentiation markers. Inhibition of Wnt signaling by PORCN inhibition holds promise as differentiation therapy in genetically defined human cancers. Overall design: RNA-seq of colorectal PDXs with confirmed R-spondin fusion genes. RNA-seq was performed in 2 conditions (Vehicle and treatment with ETC-159 (an inhibitor of PORCN) with 4 replicates per condition.